ItieNew 

fJIGHWAT TO 

THEQRIENT 

ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS 



PRAIRIES 

AND 

RIVERS 
CANADA 




mciFic 



XTbe CanaMan pacific "Railway 



(Bencral Officers CanaMan pacific "Railway 

.Montreal. 

sMstant President 

Manager of Tram 

Manager Steamship Lines and Lake Toronto. 

i .mptroller Montreal. 

cneral Passenger Agent. . 

Assistant General Passenger Agent. 

vylor. .Treasurer 

L A. Hamilton Land Commission!, Winnipeg. 

cneral Superintendent, Ontario & Atlantic Division.. 

leneral Superintendent, Eastern Division 

I .cneral Superinter Winnipeg. 

Harry Abi leneral Superintendent, Pacific Division. . . 

\sst. Freight Traffic Manager, Ont. & Atl. and East. Divisions 

I cneral Freight an ns Winnipeg. 

Vsst, General Freight and Passenger Agent, W. & P. Divisions. 

.cneral Freight Agent, Ontario Division Toronto. 

I urchasing Agent Montreal. 

Superintendent, Sleeping, Dining, Parlor Cars, and Hotels 

person General Baggage Agent 

AGENCIES: 

Adelaide Aus. . Agents Oceanic Steamship Co 

Baltimore Mil . . H. McMurtrie, Freight and Passenger Agent 203 East German St. 

.. ( C. E. McPherson, District Passenger Agent ) \v«cIiVir.n <;. 

Uss - J H. J. Colvin, City Passenger Agent. ... ^ 211 \\ ash gton St. 

Ont. .George E. McGlade, Ticket Agent M5 Main Street. 

N . V . . Walter Hurd 

. .111. .J. Francis l.ee, Commercial Agent 

land. . Archer Baker, European Traffic Agent 2 

R.Barry, Ticket Agent 126 Hull 

it 8 James Street, So. 

lapan . . Frazar & Co 

.China. .Adamson, Bell, &Co., Agents for China 

Vrcher Baker, European Traffic Agent 7 James Street. 

rcher Baker, European Traffic Agent 88 Cannon Street. 

R. Parker, Ticket Agent I Masonic Temple. 

i.ean Traffic Agent 105 Mat! 

{Win. F. Egg, District Passenger Agent Wi 
A. B. Chaffee, Jr., City Passenger Agent 266 St. James Street, 
ing, Jr., District Freight Agent Windsor St. Station. 
E. V. Skinner, General Eastern Agent 353 Broadway. 
J. Ottenheimer, Land and Emigration Agent 30 State Street. 
tt Frazar, China and Japan Agent 124 Water Street. 

Niagara 1 1 >. Isaacs 

■ eorge M. Colbum Clifton House. 



B i:::::::::::::::j4» sparks Sto «t. 

iii\ Pa. .H. McMurtrie, Freij Vgent Cor. 3d*Chestn'tSts. 

ine Central R. R 

nl, Freight and Passenger Agent 6 Washiiv 

Quebec Que. . 1 

enger Agent ! 



Seattle Wash. Ter. .E. W. Ma. ' 

\l China. .Adamson, Bell, &Co., Agents for China 

. Duncan 6 Commercial Street. 

Chubbs Corner. 

118 King Street, W. 

..cut Street. 
47' Main Street. 

A LIST OF TOURS OVER THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY will bo forwarded to any address on applica- 
tion to the Company's Agencies at London or Liverpool, Eng., New York, Boston, and Chicago, or to the General 
Passenger Agent at Montreal. 



ICbe Canadian pacific IRailwa^ 





ik 



RAILWAY from the Atlantic to the Pacific, all the 
way on British soil was long the dream of a few in 
Canada. This dream of the few became, in time, 
the hope of the many, and on the confederation of the 
British North American provinces, in 1867, its realiza- 
ion was found to be a political necessity. Then the 
Government of the new Dominion of Canada set about 
building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, a work of 
I such vast proportions that the richest empire of Europe 
might well have hesitated before entering upon it. 
Much of the country through which the railway must be 
built was unexplored. Towards the east, all about Lake Supe- 
rior, and beyond to Red River, was a vast rocky region, where 
Nature in her younger days had run riot, and where deep lakes 
and mighty rivers in every direction opposed the progress of the engineer. 
Beyond Red River for a thousand miles stretched a great plain, known 
only to the wild Indian and the fur trader; then came the mountains, 
range after range, in close succession, and all unexplored. Through all 
this, for a distance of nearly three thousand miles, the railway surveys had 
first to be made. These consumed much time and money ; people became 
impatient and" found fault and doubted. There were differences of opinion, 
and these differences became questions of domestic politics, dividing parties, 
and it was not until 1875 that the work of construction commenced in earnest. 
But the machinery of Government is ill adapted, at best, to the carrying 
on of such an enterprise, and in this case it was blocked or retarded by 
political jealousies and party strife. Governments changed and delays 
occurred, until finally, in 1880, it was decided almost by common consent 
to surrender the work to a private company. 

The explorations and surveys for the railway had made known the 
character of the country it was to traverse. In the wilderness east, north, 
and west of Lake Superior, forests of pine and other timber, and mineral 
3 



TTlx Gana&ian pacific IRailwav* 



deposits of incalculable value, were found, and millions of acres of agricultural 
land as well. The vast prairie district between Winnipeg and the Rocky 
Mountains proved to be wonderfully rich in its agricultural resources. 
Towards the mountains great coal-fields were discovered, and British Columbia 
beyond was known to contain almost every element of traffic and wealth. 
Thousands of people had settled on the prairies of the Northwest, and their 
success had brought tens of thousands more. The political reasons for building 
the railway were lost sight of and commercial reasons took their place, and 
there was no difficulty in finding a party of capitalists ready and willing to 
relieve the Government of the work and carry it on as a commercial enterprise. 
The Canadian Pacific Railway Company was organized early in 1881, and 
immediately entered into a contract with the Government to complete the line 
within ten years. 

The railway system of Eastern Canada had already advanced far up the 
Ottawa Valley, attracted mainly by the rapidly growing traffic from the pine 
forests, and it was from a point of connection with this system that the Canadian 
Pacific Railway had to be carried through to the Pacific coast, a distance of 
two thousand five hundred and fifty miles. Of this, the Government had under 
construction one section of four hundred and twenty-five miles between Lake 
Superior and Winnipeg, and another of two hundred and thirteen miles from 
Burrard Inlet, on the Pacific coast, eastward to Kamloops Lake in British 
Columbia. The company undertook the building of the remaining nineteen 
hundred and twenty miles, and for this it was to receive from the Government 
a number of valuable privileges and immunities, and twenty-five million dollars 
in money and twenty-five million acres of agricultural land. The two sections 
of the railway already under construction were to be finished by the Govern- 
ment, and, together with a branch line of sixty-five miles already in operation 
from Winnipeg southward to the boundary of the United States, were to be 
given to the company, in addition to its subsidies in money and lands; 
and the entire railway when completed was to remain the property of the 
company. 

With these liberal subventions the company set about its task most 
vigorously. While the engineers were exploring the more difficult and less 
known section from the Ottawa River to and around Lake Superior, and 
marking out a line for the navvies, work was commenced at Winnipeg and 
pushed westward across the prairies, where one hundred and sixty miles of the 
railway were completed before the end of the first year. During the second 
year the rails advanced four hundred and fifty miles. The end of the third 
year found them at the summit of the Rocky Mountains, and the fourth in 
the Selkirks, nearly a thousand and fifty miles from Winnipeg. 



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TLbc Ganabfan pacific lRail\va\: 



While such rapid progress was being made west of Winnipeg, the rails 
advancing at an average rate oL. more than three miles each working day, 
for months in succession, and sometimes five and even six miles in a day, 
armies of men with all modern appliances and thousands of tons of dynamite 
were breaking down the barriers of hard and tough Laurentian and Huronian 
rocks, and pushing the line through the forests north and cast of Lake Supe- 
rior with such energy that Eastern Canada and the Canadian Northwest were 
united by a continuous railway early in 1885. 

The Government section from the Pacific coast eastward had meanwhile 
reached Kamloops Lake, and there the company took up the work and carried 
it on to a connection with the line advancing westward across the Rockies 
and the Selkirks. The forces working towards each other met at Craigel- 
lachie, in Eagle Pass, in the Gold or Columbian range of mountains, and there, 
on a wet morning, the 7th of November, 1885, the last rail was laid in the 
main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. 

The energies of the company had not been confined to the mere fulfilment 
of its contract with the Government. Much more was done in order that the 
railway might fully serve its purpose as a commercial enterprise. Independent 
connections with the Atlantic seaboard were secured by the purchase of lines 
leading eastward to Montreal and Quebec ; branch lines to the chief centres of 
trade in Eastern Canada were provided by purchase and construction, to collect 
and distribute the traffic of the main line; and other branch lines were built 
in the Northwest for the development of the great prairies. 

The close of 1885 found the company, not yet five years old, in possession 
of no less than 4,315 miles of railway, including the longest continuous line in 
the world, extending from Quebec and Montreal all the way across the conti- 
nent to the Pacific Ocean, a distance of three thousand and fifty miles; and by 
the midsummer of 1886 all this vast system was fully equipped and fairly 
working throughout. Villages and towns and even cities followed close upon 
the heels of the line-builders; the forests were cleared away, the prairie's 
soil was turned over, mines were opened, and even before the last rail was 
in place the completed sections were carrying a large and profitable traffic. 
The touch of this young Giant of the North was felt upon the world's 
commerce almost before his existence was known ; and, not content with the 
trade of the golden shores of the Pacific from California to Alaska, his arms 
at once reached out across that broad ocean and grasped the teas and silks 
of China and Japan to exchange them for the fabrics of Europe and North 
America. 

The next three years were marked by an enormous development of traffic 
and by the addition of eight hundred more miles of railway to the company's 



Qhe IRew trigbwap to tbe ©rient 



system. One line was extended eastward from Montreal across the State of 
Maine to a connection with the railway system of the Maritime Provinces of 
Canada, affording connections with the seaports of Halifax and St. John; 
another was completed from Sudbury, on the company's main line, to Sault 
Ste Marie, at the outlet of Lake Superior, where a long steel bridge carries 
the railway across to a connection with the two important American lines 
leading westward — one to St. Paul and Minneapolis and thence continuing 
across Dakota, the other through the numberless iron mines of the Marquette 
and Gogebic districts to Duluth, at the western extremity of Lake Superior ; 
still another, and the latest built, continues the company's lines westward 
from Toronto to Detroit, connecting there with lines to Chicago, St. Louis, 
and all of the great Mississippi Valley. And now, at the close of the year 
1889, the company's lines spread out towards the West like the fingers of a 
gigantic hand, and the question " will it pay? " is answered with earnings for 
the year of more than fifteen million dollars, and profits of more than six 
millions. 

Canada's iron girdle has given a magnetic impulse to her fields, her mines, 
and her manufactories, and the modest colony of yesterday is to-day an 
energetic nation with great plans and hopes and aspirations. 



AY I not tempt you, kind reader, to leave England for 
a few short weeks and journey with me across that 
broad land, the beauties and glories of which have 
only now been brought within our reach ? There 
will be no hardships to endure, no difficulties to 
overcome, and no dangers or annoyances whatever. 
You shall see mighty rivers, vast forests, boundless 
plains, stupendous mountains and wonders innumer- 
able ; and you shall see all in comfort, nay, in luxury. 
If you are a jaded tourist, sick of Old World scenes 
and smells, you will find every thing here fresh and 
novel. If you are a sportsman, you will meet with 
unlimited opportunities and endless variety, and no one shall deny your right 
to shoot or fish at your own sweet will. If you are a mountain climber, 
you shall have cliffs and peaks and glaciers worthy of your alpenstock ; 
and if you have lived in India, and tiger hunting has lost its zest, a Rocky 
Mountain grizzly bear will renew your interest in life. 




Ube Canadian pacific TRailwav 



We may choose between a Canadian and a New York steamship. The 
former will take us, in summer, directly up the noble St. Lawrence River to 
the old and picturesque city of Quebec, the " Gibraltar of America," and the 
most interesting of all the cities of the New World. Its quaint buildings, 
crowding along the water's edge and perching on the mountain side, its massive 
walls and battlements rising tier upon tier to the famous citadel, crowning the 
mountain top and dominating the magnificent landscape for many miles around, 
plainly tell of a place and a people with a history. All about this ancient 
stronghold, first of the French and then of the English, every height and hill- 
side has been the scene of desperately fought battles. Here the French made 
their last fight for empire in America, in the memorable Battle in which Wolfe 
and Montcalm fell. But peace has prevailed for many years ; the fortifications 
are giving place to warehouses, manufactories, hotels, and universities, 
and the great new docks of massive masonry indicate that Quebec is 
about to re-enter the contest with Montreal for commercial supremacy in 
Canada. 

Here we find the Canadian Pacific Railway, and one of its trains will take 
us in a few hours along the north bank of the St. Lawrence, through a well- 
tilled country and a chain of quaint French towns and villages, to Montreal, 
the commercial capital of the Dominion. 

In the winter the- Canadian steamship will land us at the old city of 
Halifax, with its magnificent harbor, its strong citadel garrisoned by British 
troops, its extensive cotton-mills and sugar refineries, its beautiful parks and 
charming views. Here, too, a Canadian Pacific Railway train will be found 
ready to carry us westward to Montreal, passing on its way through the low 
green hills of Nova Scotia to Moncton, then skirting along the Bay of Fundy 
to St. John, the chief city of New Brunswick, a busy and handsome city, and 
the largest in the Maritime Provinces — a seaport with an extensive trade 
inland, as well as on the ocean; then following the glorious valley of the river 
St. John for a few hours, turning away from it to strike across the' State of 
Maine, where the scenery is as wild and varied as any lover of Nature could 
wish ; then crossing the boundary line back into Canada again, where towns 
and villages reappear, increasing in size as we go along, until they become 
cities — forests and saw-mills giving place to highly cultivated fields; through 
Lennoxville, Sherbrooke, Magog, Farnham, and St. Johns, on the Richelieu; 
through the broad level valley of the St. Lawrence, with isolated mountains 
lifting up here and there ; and finally, crossing the St. Lawrence River by the 
famous cantilever bridge of the Canadian Pacific Railway, at the head of 
Lachine Rapids, we will be brought within view of the spires and chimneys of 
Montreal ; and a few minutes later, rolling along over a viaduct of masonry 



ZTbe Hew Ibigbwa? to tbe ©rient 



J ^ V & 




. ^ U 



Hlx Canadian pacific IRathvav? 



arches, with the city spread out below us, we will enter the magnificent 
passenger terminus of the Canadian Pacific Company. 

Had we chosen a New York steamship, our route would have brought us 
from the American metropolis northward by railway along the banks of the 
far-famed Hudson River to Albany, and thence through Saratoga and along 
the shores of Lake George and Lake Champlain to Montreal — a day or a night 
from Xew York. 

Here in Montreal, a hundred years before the British conquest of Canada, 
the French bartered with the Indians, and from here their hardy soldiers, 
priests, traders, and voyageurs explored the vast wilderness beyond, building 
forts, establishing missions and trading-posts, and planting settlements on all 
the great rivers and lakes. From here, until long after the British occupation, 
the wants of the Indians were supplied in exchange for furs and peltries, and 
in this trade Montreal grew rich and important. 

But finally a change came. The appearance of steam navigation on the 
inland waters accelerated the settlement of the fertile country at the west, 
towns and cities sprang up about the old outposts of the missionaries and fur- 
traders, the Indians receded and disappeared, and agricultural products took 
the place of furs in the commerce of Montreal. Then came the railways, pene- 
trating the interior in every direction, bringing still greater changes and giving 
a wonderful impetus to the western country, and Montreal grew apace. And 
now we find it rising from the broad St Lawrence to the slopes of Mount 
Royal, and looking out over a densely peopled country dotted with bright and 
charming villages,— a large and beautiful city, half French, half English, half 
ancient, half modern ; with countless churches, imposing public buildings, 
magnificent hotels, and tasteful and costly residences ; with long lines of 
massive warehouses, immense grain elevators, and many-windowed factories; 
and with miles of docks crowded with shipping of all descriptions, from the 
smallest river craft to the largest ocean vessels. 




fc-<^ 



Ube "Hew fugbwap to tbe ©rient 




yHICHEVER way we came, Montreal should be regarded 
as the initial point of our transcontinental journey, for 
it is the principal eastern terminus of the Canadian 
Pacific Railway, and it is the terminus not only of the 
main line, but of numerous other lines built and acquired 
by the company to gather up and distribute its traffic. 
From here for a thousand miles we have the choice 
of two routes. We may go through the farms and or- 
chards of Ontario to Toronto, the second city of Canada 
in importance, much younger than Montreal, but closely 
growing in the extent of its trade and industries, and 
hoping soon to surpass its older rival in both, — a modern and handsomely built 
city, where the solidity and culture of the older East is combined with the 
brightness and eager activity of the newer West. Here, as at Montreal, many 
railway lines reach out, and on all sides may be seen the evidences of extensive 
commerce and great prosperity. From here we may in a few hours visit Niagara 
and then, resuming our westward journey by one of the Canadian Pacific lines, 
four hours will bring us to Owen Sound, on Georgian Bay, whence one of the 
trim Clyde-built new steamships of the railway company will take us in less 
than two days across Lake Huron and through the Straits of Sault Ste. Marie, 
where we will be lifted by enormous locks, to the level of Lake Superior, and 
then across this greatest of fresh-water seas to Port Arthur, on Thunder Bay, 
where the western section of the Canadian Pacific Railway begins. 

But you are impatient to see the mountains, and if you will permit me to 
choose, dear reader, we will start from Montreal by the main line of the rail- 
way, and in order that we may miss nothing we will return by the great lakes, 
and see Toronto and the Falls of Niagara then. 

Although the locomotive is hissing, as if impatient for the signal to go, we 
have yet a few minutes to spare, and if it is agreeable to you, we will look over 
the train which is to carry us to the Pacific. Next to the engine we find a long 
post-office van, in which a number of clerks are busily sorting letters and stow- 
ing away mail-sacks, then an express or parcels van, and then another laden 
with luggage. Following these are two or three bright and cheerful colonist- 
coaches, with seats which may be transformed into sleeping-bunks at night, and 
with all sorts of novel contrivances for the comfort of the hardy and good- 



XLbc Canadian pacific IRailwav 



looking emigrants who have already secured their places for the long journey 
to the prairies of the Northwest or the valleys of British Columbia. Next we 
find two or three handsomely fitted coaches for passengers making short trips 
along the line, and finally come the sleeping-cars, or " Pullmans," in one of 
which we are to live for some days and nights. The railway carriages to which 
you are accustomed are dwarfed to meet Old World conditions, but these in our 
train seem to be proportioned to the length and breadth of the land. Our sleep- 
ing-car is unlike the " Pullmans " you have seen in England, being much larger 
ami far more luxurious. 

With its soft and rich cushions, silken curtains, thick carpets, delicate 

carvings, and beautiful decorations, and with its numberless and ingenious 

appliances lor convenience and comfort (even to the bath-rooms, so dear 

to the travelling Englishman), it gives us promise of a delightful journey. 

We glide out ^ 'n-esss^-ss^ 



of the Montreal 
terminus, pass 
long, low freight 
sheds and ple- 
thoric grain ele- 
vators, run 





*V , I 



NOOK INSLEE1 



^£g*-~ railway workshops and 
4v)jjj||i an extensive cattle de- 
rr;. i ' '• pot, and leave the city 
gffigj II IJj«';'. , i behind. For a time we 
i^._!_r. - are .-till among the < -Id 
; -.;,' '-'•. Trench settlements, as 

- ;V\ is evidenced by the 
■■ : '■ • pretty cottages and the 
! illl I '^ ^ on S all( J "arrow well- 
tilled farms. There is 
an air of thrift and com- 
fort everywhere. We 
have hills and distant 
mountains on the one 
hand and the broad and 
beautiful Ottawa River 
the other. Villages are 
d in close succession, and 
-""" "' •"''■• '"■"• | ng < 'ttaw.i, 
EL^'l^the capital of the Dominion. High 
i up there, on a bold cliff overlooking 
the river, are the Government Build- 
ings and the Parliament House of the 
Dominion, with their Gothic towers and 
many pinnacles, making a magnificent 
group. Away to the left is Rideau Hall, the resL 
dence of the Governor-General, and stretching far 



Ube IHew Ihigbwag to tbc ©rient 




. / 


^W4f 




J§l§ 




-^pfi' 




iPKIL 


M '-J*ir~ 


■^tf ' : 


'4';.;';V V 


3 ^i^ ^^j I' 




-^rJsfelfl 


|j| 


Tm 


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"Cbe Gana&iau pacific TRailwav? 



over the heights beyond, the city. On the broad flats below are acres, perhaps 
miles, of great square piles of deals, and the cloud that rises beyond comes 
from the Chaudiere Falls, where the whole volume of the Ottawa River' 
take-- .l tumble, and is made to furnish power to a host of saw-mills and manu- 
factories. 

It is no wonder that you have been so absorbed in the wide stretches of, 
the * Ottawa River, since we left the capital behind, that you have quite forgot- 
ten it is lunch-time. That white-aproned, white-jacketed boy will bring you 
sandwiches, coffee, claret, and what not. 

We are beyond the French country now ; the farms are larger and the 
modest cottages have given place to farm-houses, many of them of brick and 
stone, and all having a well-to-do air about them. The towns are larger, there 
are more manufactories, and there is more hurry and more noise. At frequent 
intervals on the river bank are great saw-mills, surrounded by vast piles of 
lumber. The logs are floated down from the forests on the Ottawa River and 
its tributaries, and the product is shipped to Europe, to the United States, and 
everywhere. 

Gradually the towns become smaller and the farms more scattered ; the val- 
ley contracts and deepens, and we are in the new country. We leave the Ottawa 
River, and strike across toward Lake Superior. We are surprised at the thriv- 
ing villages that have already sprung up here and there, and at the number of 
hardy pioneers who are clearing away the timber and making homes for them- 
selves. At intervals of four or five hours we come to the railway Divisional 
Stations, where there are workshops, engine-sheds, and quite a collection of 
neat cottages. At these places we change engines and then move on. It is a 
long way from the Ottawa to Lake Superior, but the ever-recurring rocky 
pine-clad hills, pretty lakes, dark forests, glistening streams, and cascades keep 
our interest alive. We are alert for the sight of a bear, a moose, or a deer, and 
we do not heed the time. Our only regret is that we cannot stop for even an 
hour to cast a fly in one of the man)' tempting pools. A dining-car is attached 
to our train, — a marvel of comfort and convenience, — and we experience a 
new and delightful sensation in breakfasting and dining at our ease and in 
luxury, as we fly along through such interesting scenery. 

At Sudbury, a new-looking town planted in the forest, we find a branch 
line of railway leading off to the Straits of Sault Ste. Marie, where it connects 
with two .American lines, extending to Duluth, St. Paul, and Minneapolis, and 
beyond, and which brings this way vast quantities of flour and grain, on its way 
to the Atlantic seaboard ; and here at Sudbury we see long lines of cars heaped 
with the products of the mines and smelting furnaces near by, for within a few 
miles are deposits of copper and nickel ores aggregating millions of tons, and 



TEbe 1Rew Ibigbwav to tbe ©rient 




Cix Canadian (pacific IRatlwav? 



the numerous columns of smoke rising over the tree-tops indicate the extent 
to which they are worked. 

We move on through never °nding hills, meadows, forests, and lakes, and 
now. the second morning from Montreal, we catch glimpses of Lake Superior 
away to our left, and soon we are running along its precipitous shore. On our 
right are tree-clad mountains, and there are rocks in plenty all about. 



A 







GRAIN ELEVATOR, FOF 



For many Ik airs we look out upon the lake, its face just now still and 
smooth, and dotted here and there with sails, or streaked with the black smoke 
of a steamer. At times we are back from the lake a mile or more, and high 
above it ; again we are running along the cliffs on the shore as low down as 
the engineer dared venture. Hour after hour we glide through tunnels and 
deep rock-cuttings, over immense embankments, bridges, and viaducts, every- 
where impressed by the extraordinary difficulties that had to be overcome by 
the men who built the line. 



Ube IRew Ibfgbwas to tbe ©rient 




Che Ganabfan pacific IRailwag 



\\ cross Nepigon River, famed for its five-pound trout, run down the 

shore of Thunder Bay, and stop at the station at Port Arthur, a thousand 

11 Montreal. This place and Fort William, at the mouth of the 

Kaministiquia River, a short distance farther down the bay, constitute 

together the Lake Terminus of the Western Section of the railway. 

On the way hither we have met numerous long trains laden with -rain and 
Hour, cattle, and other freight, but we have not until now- begun to realize the 
magnitude of the traffic of the Northwest. Here on every side we see the evi- 
dences of it. Long piers and wharves crowded with shipping, grc.it piles of 
lumber, coal, and merchandise, with the railway grain elevators looming above 




CABIN OF LAKE STEAMSHIP, CANADIAN PACIFIC LINE. 



all. Two or three of these elevators at Fort William are monsters, holding 
twelve to fifteen hundred thousand bushels each. Not far away are rich silver 
mines, and a railway is being made to these and to the iron deposits beyond. 
The scenery here is more diversified and beautiful than any we have yet 
seen. The wide emerald-green waters of Thunder Bay are enclosed by abrupt 
black-and-purple basaltic cliffs on the one side, and by hills rising roll upon roll 
on the other. Here the Kaministiquia River, broad, deep, and placid, emerges 
from a dark forest and joins the waters of Lake Superior, giving little token 
that but a few miles back it has made a wild plunge from a height exceeding 
that of Niagara itself. 



XEbe mew ftiflbwas to tbe ©rtent. 




Zbc Canadian pacific IRaihvax? 



Our train is increased to provide for the passengers who have come up by 
steamer and joined us here, and by a goodly number of pleasure-seekers who 
have been fishing and shooting in the vicinity for a week or two, and who, like 
ourselves, are bent on seeing the great mountains far to the west. We leave 
the lake and again move westward, and for a night and part of the following 
tl.iv we are in a wild, strange country. The rivers seem all in a hurry, and we 
are seldom out of sight of dancing rapids or foaming cataracts. The deep, 
rock-bound lakes grow larger as we move westward. Fires have swept 
through the woods in places, and the blackened stumps and the dead trees, with 
their naked branches stretched out against the sky, are weird and ghost-like as 
we glide through them in the moonlight. It was through this rough and broken 
country, for a distance of more than four hundred miles, that Wolseley suc- 
cessfully led his army in 1870 to suppress a rebellion of the half-breeds 
on Red River, and some of his abandoned boats are yet to be seen from the 
railway. 

But wild and rough as it is, this country is full of natural wealth. Valua- 
ble minerals and precious metals abound, and from here, mainly, is procured 
the timber to supply the prairies beyond. Right in the heart of this wilderness, 
at the outlet of the Lake of the Woods, we suddenly come upon half-a-dozen 
busy saw-mills, their chimneys black against the sky ; and standing high above 
all these an immense flouring-mill, of granite, with a cluster of grain elevators 
and warehouses about it. 

As we draw nearer to the prairies we find great saw-mills begin to appear, 
with piles of lumber awaiting shipment ; and at the stations increasing accu- 
mulations of timber to be moved westward, — firewood, fence-posts, and beams 
and blocks for all purposes. Many men find employment in these forests, and 
villages are growing up at intervals. And, strange as it may seem, hardy settlers 
are clearing the land and making farms; but these are eastern Canadians who were 
born in the woods, and who despise the cheap ready-made farms of the prairies. 

We suddenly emerge from among the trees and enter the wide, level val- 
ley of Red River, and in a little while we cross the river on a long iron bridge, 
catch a glimpse of many strange-looking steamboats, and enter the magic city 
of Winnipeg. It will be well worth your while to stop here for a day. Notwith- 
standing all you have been told about it, you can hardly be prepared to find the 
frontier trading-post of yesterday transformed into a city of thirty thousand in- 
habitants, with miles of imposing structures, hotels, stores, banks, and theatres, 
with beautiful churches, schools, and colleges, with tasteful and even splendid 
residences, with immense mills and many manufactories, with a far-reaching 
trade, and with all the evidences of wealth, comfort, and cultivation to be found 
in cities of a century's growth. 



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Ubc Canadian pacific "IRailwav? 



While you will find in Winnipeg the key to much that you will see 
beyond, you must look beyond for the key to much you will see in Winnipeg. 
Situated just where the forests end and the vast prairies begin, with thousands 
of miles of river navigation to the north, south, and west, and with railways 
radiating in every direction like the spokes of a wheel, Winnipeg has become, 
what it must always be, the commercial focus of the Canadian Northwest. 



Looking .it these long lines of wa 
miles or more of railway tracks 

all crowded with cars, you begin 

to realize the vastness of the 

country we are about to enter. 

From here the wants of the 

people in the West 

are supplied, and 

this wa}- come the 

products of their 

fields, while from 

the far North 

are brought 

furs in great 

variety and 

number. 



filled with goods, and these twenty 








'"""3*" - 



jKSf 



oar 3 



wy* *&« 




CITY HALL., 



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,t 



ND now for the last stage of our journey. The 
beautiful sleeping-car in which we came up from 
Montreal kept on its way westward whilst we were 
" doing " Winnipeg, but we find another awaiting 
us, differing from the first only in name. Looking 
through the train, we find but few of our fellow-pas- 
sengers of yesterday. Nearly everybody stops at 
Winnipeg for a longer or shorter time, some to 
remain permanently, others to visit the land offices 
' of the Government or of the railway company; others to 
purchase supplies or materials for their new prairie homes ; 
and still others only to see the town, as we have done. 
We find among the new passengers representatives of all grades of society, 
gentlemen travelling for pleasure, sportsmen, merchants, and commercial 
travellers, high-born young men seeking fortunes in large farms or in ' 
ranching, keen-looking Japanese, pig-tailed Chinamen, sturdy English, 
Scotch, German, and Scandinavian immigrants, land-hunters in plenty, their 
pockets stuffed with maps and with pamphlets full of land lore, gold and silver 
miners for the mountains, coal miners for the Saskatchewan country, and pro- 
fessional men of all descriptions. There is not a sorrowful visage in the party ; 
every face wears a bright and expectant look, and the wonderfully clear sky 
and the brilliant sunshine add to the cheerfulness of the scene. 

The Rocky Mountains are yet nearly a thousand miles away. A few 
short years ago this was a six-weeks' journey, under the most favorable cir- 
cumstances, and it was counted a good trip when the old-time ox-trains, 
carrying goods and supplies to the distant trading-posts, reached the moun- 
tains in three months ; but our stages will be numbered by hours instead of 
days. 

Leaving Winnipeg, we strike out at once upon a broad plain as level and 
green as a billiard table, extending to the north and west apparently without 
limit, and bordered at the south by a line of trees marking the course of the 
Assiniboine River. This is not yet the prairie, but a great widening of the 
valleys of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, which unite at Winnipeg. To the 
left, and skirting the river, is a continuous line of well-tilled farms, with com- 
fortable farm-houses peering out from among the trees. To the right is a vast 
meadow, with countless cattle half-hidden in the grass. The railway stretches 
away before us without curve or deflection as far as the eye can reach, and the 
motion of the train is hardly felt as we fly along. 



Ube Canadian pacific IRailwav 



As we proceed westward, we imperceptibly reach higher ground, and the 
country is checkered with fields of grain, and dotted far into the distance with 
farm-houses and grain-stacks. 

Fifty-five miles from Winnipeg we reach Portage la Prairie, another city 
of a day's growth, and the centre of a well-developed and prosperous farming 
region. Its big grain elevators and flour mills, its busy streets and substantial 
houses tell their own story. From here a new railway reaches away two hun- 
dred miles or more to the northwest, making more lands accessible (if more be 
needed), bringing down grain and cattle, and before long to bring salt and 
petroleum as well. Crossing a low range 
of sand-hills, marking the shore of an an- 
cient lake, we pass through a beautifully 
i. undulating country, fertile and well settled, 

^^^^_ dibs. ' as the busy little towns and the ever-pres- 

ent grain elevators bear evidence. 




GRAIN ELEVATORS AND FLOUR MILL, PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, MANITOBA. 



One hundred and thirty miles from Winnipeg we cross the Assiniboine 
River, and reach Brandon, next to Winnipeg the largest town in the Canadian 
Northwest, a city in fact, although but a few years old, with handsome build- 
ings, well-made streets, and an unusual number of large grain elevators and 
mills ; and here again railways lead away, one to the northwest and another to 
the southeast. 

Leaving Brandon we have fairly reached the first of the great prairie 
stefi/>cs, that rise one after the other at long intervals to the Rocky Mountains; 
and now we are on the real prairie, not the monotonous, uninteresting plain 
your imagination has pictured, but a great billowy ocean of grass and flowers, 
now swelling into low hills, again dropping into broad basins with gleaming 



Ube IRevv Ibfgbwag to tbe ©rient 




26 



ttbe GanaMan pacific IRailwav 



i> 



ponds, and broken here and there by valleys and by irregular lines of trees 
marking the water-courses. The horizon only limits the view ; and, as far as 
(the eye can reach, the prairie is dotted with newly made farms, with great 
black squares where the sod has just been turned by the plough, and with 
herds of cattle. The short, sweet grass, studded with brilliant flowers, covers 
the land as with a carpet, ever changing in color as the flowers of the different 
seasons and places give to it their predominating hue. 

The deep black soil of the valley we left in the morning has given place- 
to a soil of lighter color, overlying a porous clay, less inviting to the inexperi- 
enced agriculturist, but nevertheless of the very highest value, for here is pro- 
duced in the greatest perfection, the most famous of all varieties of wheat — 
, . that known as the " Hard Fyfe wheat of 

Manitoba," — and oats as well, 
and rye, barley, and flax, and 
gigantic potatoes, and almost 
every thing that can be 
• ' grown in a temperate cli- 

mate. All these flourish 
here without appreciable- 
drain upon the soil. Once 
here, the British farmer 
soon forgets all about fer- 
tilizers. His children may 
have to look to such things, but 
not. 

pass station after station, 
all alike, except as to the 
size of the villages surrounding 
them, some of which are of con- 
siderable importance. The railway 
buildings at these stations are uni- 
form, and consist of an attractive 
station-house for passengers and 
goods, a great round water-tank, 
cottages for the section-men, and 
the never-ending grain elevators 
—tall solid structures, always tell- 
smoking-room in sleeping-car. [ n g the same story. Every minute 

or two we- see coveys of " prairie chickens " rising from the grass, startled by the 
passing train. 1 Hicks of man}' kinds are seen about the frequent ponds, together 




le wu 

w 

nearh 



Zbc IRew Ibigbwas to tbe ©rient 27 

with wild geese and cranes, and occasionally great white pelicans. The sports- 
men have nearly all dropped off at the different stations. Those who remain 
are after larger game further west, — antelope or caribou, or the bear, sheep, 
or goat of the mountains. 

Three hundred miles from Winnipeg we pass through the famous Bell 
farm, embracing one hundred square miles of land. This is a veritable manu- 
factory of wheat, where the work is done with an almost military organization, 
ploughing by brigades and reaping by divisions. Think of a farm where the 
furrows are ordinarily four miles long, and of a country where such a thing is 
possible ! There are neat stone cottages and ample barns for miles around, 
and the collection of buildings about the headquarters near the railway station 
makes a respectable village, there being among them a church, a hotel, a flour- 
mill, and, of course, a grain elevator, for in this country these elevators appear 
wherever there is wheat to be handled or stored. 

Soon we reach Regina, the capital of the Province of Assiniboia, situated 
in the centre of an apparently boundless but very fertile plain. The build- 
ings here have more of a frontier look than those of the larger towns we have 
left behind ; but it is a busy place, an important centre of trade, and one of 
the cities of the future. From here a railway branching off to the north has 
already reached Saskatoon on the South Saskatchewan River, and is pushing 
away towards Prince Albert and the North Saskatchewan. As we leave the 
station going westward, we see on our right the Governor's residence, and a 
little beyond, the headquarters of the Northwest Mounted Police, a body of 
men of whom Canada is justly proud. This organization is composed of young 
and picked men, thoroughly drilled, and governed by the strictest military 
discipline. Their firm and considerate rule won the respect and obedience of 
the Indians long before the advent of the railway, and its coming was attended 
by none of the lawlessness and violence which have darkly marked the open- 
ing of new districts elsewhere in America, so wholesome was the fame of these 
red-coated guardians of the prairies. 

Leaving Regina we soon pass Moosejaw, four hundred miles from Winni- 
peg, and commence the ascent of another prairie steppe. 

We have now nearly reached the end of the continuous settlement, and 
beyond to the mountains we shall only find the pioneer farmers in groups here 
and there, and,, at intervals of two hours or so, the dozen establishments of an 
English company, where wheat-growing and cattle-raising are carried on to- 
gether in a large and systematic way, — each establishment embracing twenty 
thousand or more acres. The country, while retaining the chief characteristics 
of the prairie, becomes more broken, and numerous lakes and ponds occur in 
the depressions. We shall see no trees now for a hundred miles, and without 



Ube Canadian pacific IRailwav 



them the short buffalo-grass gives the country a desolate, barren look ; but it 
is far from barren, as the occasional farms and station gardens testify, with 
their wonderful growth of cereals and vegetables. There is a flutter of excite- 
ment anion- the passengers, and a rush to the windows. Antelope ! We shall see 
them often enough now. At Chaplin, we come to one of the Old Wives' lakes, 
which are extensive bodies of water having no outlet, and consequently alkaline. 

We arc now entering a very paradise for sportsmen. The lakes become 
more frequent. Some are salt, some are alkaline, but most of them are clear 
and fresh. Wild geese, cranes, ducks — a dozen varieties, — snipe, plover, and 
curlew, all common enough throughout the prairies, are found here in myriads. 
Water-fowl blacken the surface of the lakes and ponds, long white lines of peli- 
cans disport themselves along the shores, and we hear the notes and cries of 
many strange birds whose names I cannot tell you. " Prairie-chickens " are 
abundant on the high ground, and antelopes are common in the hills. 

The country is reticulated with buffalo trails, and pitted with their wal- 
lows. A buffalo is a rare sight now, and he must be looked for farther north, 
where he is known as the " wood buffalo." Hour after hour we roll along, with 
little change in the aspect of the country. The geese and ducks have ceased 
to interest us, and even a coyote no longer attracts attention ; but the beauti- 
ful antelope has never-ending charms for us, and as, startled by our approach, 
he bounds away, we watch the white tuft which serves him for a tail until it 
disappears in the distance. 

We have crossed the high broken country, known here as the Coteau, and 
far away to the southwest we see the Cypress Hills appearing as a deep blue 
line, and, for want of any thing else, we watch these gradually rising as we 
draw near to them. The railway skirts their base- for many miles, following 
what seems to be a broad valley, and crossing many clear little streams making 
their way from the hills northward to the Saskatchewan. At Maple Creek, a 
little town with extensive yards for the shipment of cattle, some of which are 
driven here from Montana, feeding and fattening on the way, we see the red 
coats of the mounted police, who are looking after a large encampment of 
Indians near by. The Indians are represented on the station platform by 
braves of high and low degree, squaws, and papooses, mostly bent on trading 
pipes and trinkets for tobacco and silver; a picturesque-looking lot, but dirty 
withal. Leaving the station we catch sight of their encampment, a mile or so 
away, — tall, conical " tepees" of well-smoked cloths or skins ; Indians in blan- 
kets of brilliant colors ; hundreds of ponies feeding in the rich grasses ; a line 
of graceful trees in the background, seemingly more beautiful than ever because 
of their rarity ;— all making, with the dark Cypress Hills rising in the distance, 
a picture most novel and striking. 



Ube IRevv Ibfgbwap to tbe Orient* 




3 o Zbc Gana&ian pacific IRailwag 

Two hours later we descend to the valley of the South Saskatchewan, and 
soon arrive at Medicine Hat, a finely situated and rapidly growing town, a 
thousand miles from Lake Superior. Hereabouts are extensive coal-mines, 
from which came the coals we saw moving eastward on the railway; and from 
near this place a railway extends to other coal-mines, more than a hundred 
miles to the southwest. The broad and beautiful Saskatchewan River affords 
steamboat navigation a long way above, and for a thousand miles or more 
below ; ami Western enterprise has been quick to seize upon the advantages 
offered here. 

Crossing the river on a long iron bridge, we ascend again to the high 
prairie, now a rich pasture dotted with lakelets. Even-where the flower- 
sprinkled sward is marked by the deep narrow trails of the buffalo, and the 
saucer-like hollows where the shaggy monsters used to wallow ; and strewing 
the plain in all directions are the whitened skulls of these noble animals, now 
so nearly extinct. There are farms around many of the little stations even so 
far west as this, and the herds of cattle grazing on the knolls indicate the 
•• ranch country " ; and here nature seems to have atoned in part for the 
scarcity of timber by providing beneath the surface a reservoir of natural gas, 
which has been tapped at some of the stations and made to' afford power for 
pumping water, and light and heat for the station houses, and which will soon 
be utilized in reducing the silver ores from the mountains not far away. 

As we approach Crowfoot Station, all are alive for the first view of the 
Rock\- Mountains, yet more than a hundred miles away ; and soon we see them, 
— a glorious line of snowy peaks, rising straight from the plain, and extending 
the whole length of the western horizon, seemingly an impenetrable barrier. 
As we speed on, peak rises behind peak, then dark bands of forest that reach 
up to the snow-line come into view ; the snow-fields and glaciers glisten in the 
sunlight, and over the rolling tops of the foot-hills the passes are seen, cleft 
deep into the heart of the mountains. We are now in the country of the once 
dreaded Blackfeet, the most handsome and warlike of all the Indian tribes, but 
now peacefully settled on a reservation near by. We have been running par- 
allel to the tree-lined banks of the Bow River, and now, crossing its crystal 
w. iters, we find ourselves on a beautiful hill-girt plateau in the centre of which 
stands the new city of Calgary, at the base of the Rocky Mountains, 2,262 
miles from Montreal and 3,416 feet above the ocean. 

Before us, and on either side, the mountains rise in varied forms and in 
endless change of aspect, as the lights and shadows play upon them. Behind 
us is the great sea of open prairie. Northward is the wooded district of 
Edmonton and the North Saskatchewan, full of moose, elk, bear, and all 
manner of fur-bearing animals and winged game. Southward, stretching 



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M§ ° 




Zbc Canadian pacific TRailwap 



away one hundred and fifty miles to the United States boundary, is the 
Ranch Country. 

You may be sure of a cordial welcome should you visit the ranchmen, and 
it will be worth your while to do so. You will find them all along the foot- 
hills, their countless herds feeding far out on the plain. Cattle and horses 
graze at will all over the country, summer and winter alike. The warm 
" Chinook " winds from across the mountains keep the ground free from snow 
in the winter, except for a day or two at a time, and the nutritious and naturally 
cured grasses are always within reach of the cattle. In the spring and autumn 
all the ranchmen join in a " round up," to collect and sort out the animals 
according to the brands of the different owners ; and then the " cow-boy " 
appears in all his glory. To see these splendid riders " cutting out " or sepa- 
rating the animals from the common herd, lassoing and throwing them, that 
they may be branded with the owner's mark, or herding a band of free-born 
and unbroken horses, is well worth coming all this way. The ranchmen, fine 
fellows from the best families in the East and in England, live here in a lordly 
way. Admirable horsemen, with abundant leisure and unlimited opportunities 
for sport, their intense love for this country is no matter of wonder, nor is it 
surprising that every day brings more young men of the best class to join in 
this free and joyous life. 

All along the base of the mountains clear streams come down to the plain 
at frequent intervals ; coal crops out on the water-courses, and there is timber 
in plenty throughout the foot-hills. The soil is rich and deep, game is abun- 
dant, and the climate is matchless. What more can one desire ? 

Leaving Calgary and going westward again, following up the valley of 
the Bow, the gradually increasing river terraces and the rounded grassy foot- 
hills, on which innumerable horse.s, cattle, and sheep are feeding, shut out the 
mountains for an hour or two. Suddenly we come upon them grand and stern 
and close at hand. For more than six hundred miles and until we reach the 
Pacific they will be constantly with us. We enter an almost hidden portal, 
ami find ourselves in a valley between two great mountain ranges. At every 
turn of the valley, which is an alternation of precipitous gorges and wide parks, 
a new picture presents itself. The beautiful river now roars through a narrow 
defile, now spreads out into a placid lake, reflecting the forests, cliffs, and snowy 
summits. Serrated peaks, and vast pyramids of rock with curiously contorted 
and folded strata, are followed by gigantic castellated masses, down whose sides 
cascades fall thousands of feet. The marvellous clearness of the air brings out 
the minutest detail of this Titanic sculpture. Through the gorges we catch 
glimpses of glaciers and other strange and rare sights, and now and then of 
wild goats and mountain sheep, grazing on the cliffs far above us near the snow- 



Ube IRew "Ibigbwa^ to tbe ©rient 



33 



line. The mountains would be oppressive in their grandeur, their solemnity, 
and their solitude, but for an occasional mining town or a sportsman's tent, 
which eive a human interest to the scene. 




MOUNT STEPHEN, NEAR THE SUMMIT OF THE 



Three hours after leaving Calgary, we pass the famous anthracite mines 
near the base of Cascade Mountain, and soon after stop at the station at Banff, 
already famous for its hot and sulphurous springs, which possess wonderful 
curative powers, and which have already attracted thousands of people, many 



tlbe Canadian pacific TRailwav?. 



of them from great distances. The district for miles about has been reserved 
by the Canadian Government as a national park, and much has already been 
done to add to its natural beaut}', or, rather, to make its beauties accessible ; 

lands of man can add but little. 
Everybody stops here for a day 
or two at least, and we should do 
kewise. We will find luxurious 
quarters in a large and hand- 
somely appointed hotel, perched 




ROSS PEAK GLACIER. 



Ibe 1Rew Ibigbwav to tbe ©rient 




36 Clx Canac-ian pacific TRailwav? 



on a liill overlooking the beautiful valley of Bow River. The river comes 
down from its glacier sources at the west, plunges over a precipice beneath 
the hotel balconies, and, stretching away through the deep, forested 
valley, disappears among the distant mountains at the east. Half a dozen 
ranges of magnificent snow-tipped mountains centre here, each differing from 
the others in form and color ; and the converging valleys separating them 
afford matchless views in all directions. Well-made carriage roads and 
bridle paths lead to the different springs and wind about among the mountains 
everywhere. 

Resuming our journey, we are soon reminded by the increasing nearness of 
the fields of snow and ice on the mountain-slopes that we are reaching a great 
elevation, and two hours from Banff our train stops at a little station, and we 
are told that this is the summit of the Rocky Mountains, just a mile above the 
sea ; but it is the summit only in an engineering sense, for the mountains still 
lift their white heads five thousand to seven thousand feet above us, and stretch 
away to the northwest and the southeast like a great backbone, as indeed they 
are, — the " backbone of the continent." 

Two little streams begin here almost from a common source. The waters 
of one find their way down to the Saskatchewan and into Hudson's Bay, and 
the other joins the flood which the Columbia pours into the Pacific Ocean. 
Passing three emerald lakes, deep set in the mountains, we follow the west- 
bound stream down through a tortuous rock-ribbed cafion, where the waters are 
dashed to foam in incessant leaps and whirls. This is the Wapta or Kicking- 
Horse pass. Ten miles below the summit we round the base of Mount Stephen. 
a stupendous mountain rising directly from the railway to a height of more than 
eight thousand feet, holding on one of its shoulders, and almost over our heads, 
a glacier whose shining green ice, five hundred feet thick', is slowly crowded 
over a sheer precipice of dizzy height, and crushed to atoms below. From the 
railway, clinging to the mountain side, we look down upon the river valley, 
which, suddenly widening, here holds between the dark pine-clad mountains 
a mirror-like sheet of water, reflecting with startling fidelity each peak and 
precipice. 

Still following the river, now crossing deep ravines, now piercing pro- 
jecting rocky spurs, now quietly gliding through level park-like expanses of 
greensward, with beautiful trees, pretty lakelets, and babbling brooks, we soon 
enter a tremendous gorge, whose frowning walls, thousands of feet high, seem 
to overhang the boiling stream which frets and roars at their base, and this we 
follow for miles, half shut in from the daylight. 

Two hours from the summit and three thousand feet below it, the gorge 
suddenly expands, and we see before us high up against the sky a jagged line 



Zbc IWew tugbway to tbe ©rient 




3S TLbc Canadian pacific iRathvav 

of snowy peaks of new forms and colors. A wide, deep, forest-covered valley 
intervenes, holding a broad and rapid river. This is t lie Columbia. The new 
mountains before us are the Selkirks, and we have now crossed the Rockies. 
Sweeping round into the Columbia valley we have a glorious mountain view. 
To the north and south, as far as the eye can reach, we have the Rockies on 
the one hand and the Selkirks on the other, widely differing in aspect, but each 
indescribably grand. Roth rise from the river in a succession of tree-clad 
benches, and soon leaving the trees behind, shoot upward to the regions of 
perpetual snow and ice. The railway turns down the Columbia, following one 
of the river-benches through gigantic trees for twenty miles to Donald, where 
a number of our fellow-passengers leave us. Some of them are miners or 
prospectors bound for the silver mines in the vicinity, or the gold " diggins," 
farther down the river ; others are ambitious sportsmen, who are seeking 
caribou or mountain sheep — the famous " big-horn." They will not fail to 
run upon a bear now and then, black or cinnamon, and perchance a grizzly. 

Crossing the Columbia, and following it down through a great cafion, 
through tunnels and deep rock-cuttings, we shortly enter the Beaver Valley 
and commence the ascent of the Selkirks, and then for twenty miles we 
climb along the mountain sides, through dense forests of enormous trees, 
until, near the summit, we find ourselves in the midst of a wonderful group 
of peaks of fantastic shapes and many colors. At the summit itself, four 
thousand five hundred feet above tide-water, is a natural resting-place, — a 
broad level area surrounded by mountain monarchs, all of them in the deadly 
embrace of glaciers. Strange, under this warm summer's sky, to see this 
battle going on between rocks and ice — a battle begun jeons ago and to con- 
tinue for aeons to come ! To the north, and so near us that we imagine that 
we hear the crackling of the ice, is a great glacier whose clear green fissures 
we can plainly see. To the south is another, vastly larger, by the side of 
which the greatest of those of the Alps would be insignificant. Smaller 
glaciers find lodgment on all the. mountain benches and slopes, whence in- 
numerable sparkling cascades of icy water come leaping down. 

Descending westerly from the summit we reach in a few minutes the 
Glacier House, a delightful hotel situated almost in the face of the Great 
Glacii r and at the foot of the grandest of all the peaks of the Selkirks— Sir 
Donald,— an acute pyramid of naked rock shooting up nearly eight thousand 
feel above us. In the dark valley far below we see the glacier-fed Illicilliwact, 
glistening through the tree-tops, and beyond and everywhere the mountains 
rise in majesty and immensity beyond all comparison. To reach the deep 
valley below, the engineers wound the railway in a series of great curves or 
loops all about the mountain-slopes, and as we move on, this marvellous scene 



Ube IRew Ibigbwav to tbe ©rient 




4 o Z\k Canadian pacific IRailwav? 



ited to us in every aspect. We.plunge again for hours through pre- 
cipitous gorges, deep and dark, and again cross the Columbia River, which 
has made a great detour around the Selkirk Mountains while we have come 
directly through them. The river is wider and deeper here, and navigated by 
steamboats southward for nearly two hundred miles. 

( In its cast bank stands Revelstoke, the supply point for the mining dis- 
tricts up and down the river, and here are large works for smelting silver ores, 
which arc brought from the mines by the railway and by steamboats. 

We are now confronted by the Gold range, another grand snow-clad series 
of mountains, but broken directly across, and offering no obstacle to the 
railway. The deep and narrow pass through this range takes us for forty 
niilis or more between parallel lines of almost vertical cliffs, into the faces of 
which the line is frequently crowded by deep black lakes ; and all the way the 
bottom of the valley is thickly set with trees of many varieties and astonishing 
size, exceeding even those of the Columbia. 

A sudden flash of light indicates that we have emerged from the pass, 
and we see stretching away before us the Shuswap lakes, whose crystal 
waters are hemmed and broken in every way by abruptly rising mountains. 
After playing hide-and-seek with these lovely lakes, for an hour or two, the 
valley of the South Thompson River is reached — a wide almost treeless valley, 
already occupied from end to end by farms and cattle ranches; and here for 
the first time irrigating ditches appear. Flocks and herds are grazing every- 
where, and the ever-present mountains look down upon us more kindly than 
has been their wont. 

Then comes Kamloops, the principal town in the interior of British 
Columbia, and just beyond we follow for an hour the shore of Kamloops 
Lake, shooting through tunnel after tunnel, and then the valley shuts in 
and the scarred ami rugged mountains frown upon us again, and for hours 
we wind along their sides, looking down upon a tumbling river, its waters 
sometimes almost within our reach and sometimes lost below. We suddenly 
cross the deep black gorge of the Frascr River on a massive bridge of steel, 
seemingly constructed in mid-air, plunge through a tunnel, and enter the 
famous cafion of the Eraser. 

The view here changes from the grand to the terrible. Through this 
deep and narrow in many places that the rays of the sun hardly 
enter it, the black and ferocious waters of the great river force their way. 
We are in the heart of the Cascade range, and above the walls of the cafion 
we occasionally see the mountain peaks gleaming against the sky. Hundreds 
of feet above the river is the railway, notched into the face of the cliffs, now 
and then crossing a great chasm by a tall viaduct or disappearing in a tunnel 



XLhc IRew Ibigbwap to tbe ©rient 



through a projecting spur of rock, but so well made, and so thoroughly pro- 
tected everywhere, that we feel no sense of danger. For hours we are 
deafened by the roar of the waters below, and we pray -for the broad sunshine 
once more. The scene is fascinating in its terror, and we finally leave it 
gladly, yet regretfully. 

At Yale the canon ends and the river widens out, but we have mountains 
yet in plenty, at times receding and then drawing near again. We see China- 
men washing gold on the sand-bars and Indians herding cattle in the meadows ; 




YALE, BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



and the villages of the Indians, each with its little unpainted houses and minia- 
ture chapel, alternate rapidly with the collection of huts where the Chinamen 
congregate. Salmon drying on poles near the river give brilliant touches of 
color to the landscape, and here and there we see the curious graveyards of 
the Indians, neatly enclosed and decorated with banners, streamers, and all 
manner of carved " totems." 

A gleaming white cone rises towards the southeast. It is Mount Baker, 
sixty miles away and fourteen thousand feet above us. We cross large rivers 
flowing into the Fraser, all moving slowly here as if resting after their tumul- 
tuous passage down between the mountain ranges. As the valley widens out 



42 XTbc Canadian pacific IRailwa? 



farms and orchards become more and more frequent, and our hearts are 
gladdened with the sight of broom and other shrubs and plants familiar to 
English eyes, for as we approach the coast we find a climate like that of the 
south of England, but with more sunshine. Touching the Fraser River now 
and then, we see an occasional steamboat, and here in the lower part the 
water is dotted with Indian canoes, all engaged in catching salmon, which visit 
these rivers in astonishing numbers, and which when caught are frozen and 
sent eastward by the railway, or canned in great quantities and shipped to all 
parts of the world. 

Passing through a forest of mammoth trees, some of them twelve feet or 
more in diameter, and nearly three hundred feet high, we find ourselves on the 
tide-waters of the Pacific at the eastern extremity of Burrard Inlet. Following 
down the shore of this mountain-girt inlet for half an hour, our train rolls into 
the stat inn at Vancouver, the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific 
Railway. 



Uhe IRew ttrigbwas to tbe ©rfent 




\ * 



TLbc Canadian pacific IRailwav 




E soon find comfortable quarters in a fine hotel, equal to 

any we have seen in the East, and its situation on high 

ground affords us a most interesting and charming view 

of the new city and the surrounding country. Far away 

at the southeast Mount Baker looms up all white and 

serene. At the north, and rising directly from the sea, 

is a beautiful group of the Cascade Mountains, bathed 

in a violet light and vividly reflected in the glassy waters of 

the inlet. Looking towards the west, out over English Bay 

and the Straits of Georgia, we see the dark-blue mountains 

of Vancouver Island, and at the southwest, beyond the 

broad delta of Fraser River, is the Olympian range, — a long line of opalescent 

peaks fading into the distance. 

At our feet is a busy scene. The city is new indeed ; only one or two of 
its many buildings were here four years ago, — a forest stood here then. The 
men who built the town could not wait for bricks and mortar, and all of the 
earlier houses were built of wood ; but fire swept all these away and solid, 
handsome structures of brick and granite took their place. Down at the 
water's edge are long wharves where steamships from China and Japan, from 
California, Puget Sound, and Alaska are discharging or taking in cargoes ; and 
at the warehouses along the wharves are lines of railway cars loading for the 
East with teas, silks, seal-skins, fish, fruit, and many other commodities. Here 
and there all around the inlet are great saw-mills, where steamships and sailing- 
vessels are taking in timber and deals for China and Australia, and even for 
England. A few miles away is New Westminster, on the Fraser, one of the 
old towns of British Columbia, now quickened into vigorous growth by the 
advent of the railway, and the columns of smoke rising in that direction tell 
us of its extensive salmon canneries ami saw-mills. There too, ships are load- 
ing for all parts of the world. And over against Vancouver Island are other 
columns of smoke, indicating the great coal-mines from which nearly all of the 
steamships of the Pacific are supplied. 

Northward for twelve hundred miles through the Gulf of Georgia and the 
wonderful fiords of Alaska, where the mountains are embraced in a thousand 
arms of the sea, pleasure-steamers, crowded with tourists, ply frequently. 
Southwestward the Straits of Fuca lead out past the entrance to Puget Sound 
and past the city of Victoria, to the open Pacific. All these waters, from 
Puget Sound to Alaska, hardly known a few years ago, are now dotted with 



Ube IRew Ibigbwa^ to tbe ©rient 45 

all kinds of craft, from the largest to the smallest, engaged in all manner 
of trade. 

No wonder that, with all her magnificent resources in precious metals, her 
coal and iron, her inexhaustible fisheries and vast forests, her delightful 
climate and rich valleys, her matchless harbors and her newly completed 
transcontinental railway, British Columbia expects a brilliant future ; and no 
wonder that everybody here is at work with all his might ! 

I ask your pardon, patient reader, for my persistence in showing you all 
sorts of things as we came along, whether you wished to see them or not. 
My anxiety that you should miss nothing you might wish to see is my only 
excuse. You have been bored nearly to death, no doubt, and I have noticed 
signs of impatience which lead me to suspect your desire for freedom to go 
and see as you like, and as you have found that no guide is necessary, I will, 
with your, permission, leave you here ; but before releasing your hand, let me 
advise you not to fail, now that you are so near, to visit Victoria, the beautiful 
capital of British Columbia. A steamer will take you there in a few hours, 
and you will be rewarded in finding a transplanted section of Old England, 
climate, people, and all ; and more vigorous, perhaps, because of the trans- 
planting. The city stands on the southern extremity of Vancouver Island, 
overlooking the Straits of Fuca and the entrance to Puget Sound. The wealth 
of the Province is chiefly centred here, and the great warehouses and busy 
wharves testify to the extensive trade of the city ; and the tasteful and in 
many cases splendid residences testify to a more than colonial refinement. 

Near Victoria you will find Esquimalt, the North Pacific naval station, 
and an iron-clad or two, and perchance some old friends from home ; and let 
me advise you, furthermore, to take all of your luggage with you to Victoria, 
for I am sure you will be in no hurry to come away. 



-1" 



Zbc Canadian pacific iRailwav? 



THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY 



nil. IWril'IM llli.HWAY li'n\i THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC. 



The Newest, The Most Solidly Constructed, and the Best Equipped Trans- 
continental Route. 




rhese cars are of unusual 
gth and size, with berths, 
smoking ami toilet accommo- 
dations correspondingly roomy. 
The transcontinental sleeping- 



del 



BATH ROOMS, 

and all arc fitted with double 
doors and windows to exclude 
the dust in summer and the 
cold in winter. 

The seats are richly uphol- 
stered, with high backs and 
and the central sections 
are made into luxurious sofas 
during the day. 

The upper berths are pro- 
vided with windows and venti- 
lators, and have curtains separate 
from thoseof the berths beneath. 
The exteriors are of polished 
red mahogany, and the interiors 
are of white mahogany and 
satinwood, elaborately carved ; 
while all useful and decorative 
pieces of metal work, are of old 
brass of antique design. 

No expense i- spared in pro- 
viding the DINING-CARS with 
the choicest viands and season- 
able delicacies, and the bill of 
fare and wine list will compare favorably with those of many 
prominent hotels. 

THE FIRST-CLASS DAY COACHES arc propoi 

elaborate in their arrangement for the comforl ol i he passenger ; 

and, for those who desire to travel at a cheaper rate, COLONIST 

SLEEPING-CARS are provided without additional charge. 

These cars are fitted with upper and lower berths after the same 

as other sleeping-cars, but are not upholstered, and the passenger may furnish his own 

bedding, or purchase it of the Company's agents at terminal stations at nominal rales. The entire 

passenger equipment is MATCHLESS in elegance and comfort. 



FIRST-CLASS SLEEPING AND PARLOR CAR TARIFF. 



FOR ONE LOWE! 

Quebec and Montreal . . . .$1.50 

Montreal and Toronto . . . 2.00 

Montreal and Winnipeg . . . 8.00 

Montreal and Vancouver . 20.00 
Ottawa and Toronto .... 2.00 

Ottawa and Vancouver . . 20.00 



ON] l I'll i; i:i:ki 11 I 



Toronto and Chic 



Between other ; 



'ork and Montrea 
in proportion. V - ommodation in First-* lass Sleeping-C: 
be sold only to holders of First-Class transportation. 



N SLEEPING-CAR BETWEEN 




*I5 00 


Boston and St. Paul . . 


. *7.00 


3,00 


Montreal and St Paul . 


. 6.00 


8.00 


St. Paul and Winnipeg . 


. 3.00 


18.50 


St. Paul and Vancouver . 


. 13.50 


2.00 


Winnipegand Vancouver 


. 12.00 


2.00 







XLhc TKlew Ibigbwag to tbe ©rient 



iANADIAN PACIFIC H0TELS. 



While the perfect sleeping and dining-car service, peculiar to the Canadian Pacific Railway, pro- 
vides every comfort and luxury for travellers making the continuous trip between the Atlantic and 
Pacific coasts, the Railway was no sooner opened than it was found necessary to provide places at the 
principal points of interest among the mountains, where tourists and others might explore and enjoy, 
at their leisure, the magnificent scenery with which the line abounds. 

With this end in view, the Company have erected at convenient points, hotels which will not only 
serve these purposes, but should, by their special excellence, add another to the many elements of 
superiority for which the Railway is already famous. 

Proceeding westward, the first point selected was Banff, about twenty miles within the Rocky 
Mountains and forty miles east of their summit, where the natural attractions of the place had already 
led the Government to set aside an extensive tract as a National Park. 

THE BANFF SPRINGS HOTEL 

is placed on a high mountain promontory, 4,500 feet above the sea-level, at the confluence of the Bow 
and Spray rivers, and is a large, handsome and well-built structure, with every convenience that modern 
ingenuity can suggest, and costing over a quarter of a million dollars. While it is not intended to be 
a sanitarium, in the usual sense, the needs and comforts of invalids are fully provided for, and the hotel 
is kept open throughout the year. The hot sulphur springs, with which the region abounds, vary in 
temperature from 80 to 121 degrees, and in addition to the bathing facilities provided by the hotel, the 
Government has protected, improved, and beautified the springs, and constructed picturesque bathing- 
houses and swimming baths. The springs are much like those of Arkansas, and the apparently greater 
curative properties of the waters are no doubt due, in part, to the cool, dry air of the mountains incident 
to their elevation. The spring waters are specially efficacious for the cure of rheumatic, gouty, and 
allied affections, and are very beneficial in affections of the liver, diabetes, Bright's disease, and chronic 
dyspepsia. 

A number of sub-ranges of the Rocky Mountains radiate from Banff, and looking up the valleys 
between them, in every direction, long lines of white peaks are seen in grand perspective. A dozen 
mountain monarchs within view raise their heads a mile or more above the hotel ; and the Bow River, 
coming down from its glacier sources at the west, widens out as it approaches, then suddenly contracts 
and plunges over a precipiee immediately at our feet, and then widening out again, is finally lost among 
the snow-capped peaks toward the east. 

Mountain sheep and goats abound in the neighboring hills, and Devil's Head Lalce, not far away, 
a deep glacier-fed body of water, a mile or two in width, and fifteen miles long, affords excellent sport 
in deep trolling for trout, which are here taken of extraordinary size. 

The hotel rates are from three dollars to four dollars and fifty cents per day and upwards, according 
to the rooms selected, and special rates by the week or the month will be given on application to 
Manager, Banff Springs Hotel, 

Banff, Alberta, N.W.T., Canada. 

THE MOUNT STEPHEN HOUSE, 

a pretty chalet-like hotel, is situated fifty miles west of Banff, in Kicking Horse Canon, at the base of 
Mount Stephen — the chief peak of the Rockies in this latitude, whose stupendous mass is lifted abruptly 
8,000 feet above: This is a favorite stopping-place for tourists and mountain climbers, and there is 
good fly-fishing for trout in a pretty lake near by, and "big-horns " and mountain goats are found in the 
vicinity. Looking down the valley from the hotel, the Ottertail Mountains are seen on the left, and 
the Van Home range on the right. In the latter, the two most prominent peaks are Mts. Deville and 
King. This is a favorite region for artists, the lights and shadows oh the near and distant mountains 
giving especially interesting subjects for the brush. 



TLbc (Ianaotan pacific TRailwav? 



The hotel is noted for the excellence of its cuisine and is fitted up with every attention to comfort. 
The rate-, arc- three dollars per day, and for the engagement -if special accommodation, application 
should be made to 

M w v:i ic. Mount Stephi i 

Field, li. C, Canada. 

GLACIER HOUSE, 

the- next resting-place, is situated in the heart of the Selkirks, at the foot of " Sir Donald," and in close 
proximity to the Great ('.lacier — a sea of ice spreading among the mountains, and covering an area of 
about thirty-eight square miles. 

The hotel is built beside the railway, in a beautiful amphitheatre surrounded by lofty mountains, of 
which Sir Donald, rising 8,000 feet above the railway, is the most prominent. Northward stand the 
summit peaks of the Selkirl-cs in grand array, all clad in snow and ice, and westward is the deep valley 
of the glacier-fed Illicilliwaet River, leaping away to its junction with the Columbia. The dense forests 
all ah' ml an filled « iih the music of restless brooks, which will irresistibly attract the trout fisherman, 
and the hunter for large game can have his choice of " big-horns," mountain goats, grizzly and mountain 
bears. The main point of interest is the Great Glacier, which is only a short walk from the hotel by a 
pleasant and easy path. One may safely climb upon its wrinkled surface, or penetrate its water-worn 
caves, and think himself in grottos carved in emerald or sapphire. The glacier is about live hundred 
feet thick at its forefoot, and is said to exceed in area all the glaciers of Switzerland combined. 

No tourist should fail to stop here for a day at least, and he need not be surprised to find himself 
loath to leave its attractions at the end of a week or month. 

The hotel is similar in construction to the Mount Stephen House, and is first-class in all respects. 
The rates are three dollars per day, and correspondence should be addressed to 

MANAGER, Glacier House, 

British Columbia. 



THE FRASER CANON HOUSE 

at North Bend, 130 miles east of Vancouver, is situated in a park-like opening among the mountains on 
the Fraser River ; its construction is of the Swiss chalet style, similar to the Mount Stephen and 
( ilacier (louses, and it is managed with the same attention to the comfort of its patrons that pervades 
all branches of the Company's service. The scenery all along the Fraser River is not only interesting, 
but startling. It has been well described as " ferocious," and the hotel is a comfortable base from which 
to explore the surrounding mountains and valleys. Rates three dollars per day. 
Address 

MANAGER, Fraser Canon House, 

British Columbia. 

HOTEL VANCOUVER, 

at Vancouver, B. C, the Pacific coast terminus of the Railway. The Company have just completed 
this magnificent hotel, designed to accommodate the large commercial business of the place, as well as 
the great number of tourists who will always find it profitable and interesting to make here a stop of a 
day or two, whether travelling east or west. It is situated on high ground near the centre of the city, 
and from it there is a glorious outlook in every direction. No effort has been spared in making its 
accommodations and service perfect in every detail, and in the matters of cuisine, furnishings and sanitary 
arrangements it will compare favorably with the best hotels in Eastern Canada or the United States. 
Rates: three dollars to four dollars and fifty cents per day, with special terms for a longer time. 
Address 

Manager, Hotel Vancouver, 

Vancouver, B. C. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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